Meet the team

CyclingTips began life in September 2008 as a simple WordPress blog written by Wade Wallace. The aim of the site was to collect and publish all of the cycling tips Wade stumbled across from years of riding and racing around the world. Over the years the site has grown in size and scope and Wade has been joined by several staff members.

Here’s the CyclingTips team:

Wade Wallace – Founder & Publisher

As the GFC hit in 2008 Wade found himself working for a company in bankruptcy protection and was stuck there because of work visa commitments.

He began writing a simple blog about all his observations and “tips” in the sport of cycling. Once per day he’d write on his blog to keep himself busy during those long days without anything to do.

Eventually the blog expanded into other areas of interest and seemed to catch people’s attention from all over the world.

Wade found himself running the blog as a full-time job, and eventually began the transition from “blog” to “website”.

As publisher of the site, Wade is the one with the overall vision behind the site’s editorial direction and its development.

CyclingTips Editorial

Matt de Neef – Australian Editor

Matt joined CyclingTips in February 2013 after spending two years working as an editor in the Science + Technology section of The Conversation.

Prior to that he worked in the media team at La Trobe University where he completed a postgraduate journalism degree.

Matt is the founder and publisher of The Climbing Cyclist, a website about the joy of cycling uphill and a guide to cycling climbs around Victoria. He has dabbled in road racing but gets more satisfaction from exploring new roads and riding in the hills with mates.

Neal joined CyclingTips in January 2016 after 14 years spent at VeloNews in Boulder, Colorado. He started there in 2001, as an intern, and left in 2015 after four years as Editor in Chief. During his time with VeloNews he covered most all of the major events in pro cycling, including the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, and Spring Classics, as well as several world road championships and the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Neal fell in love with cycling in college, at the University of California, Santa Cruz; it all started on a steel Gary Fisher hardtail, zipping through the majestic redwood forests. That passion translated into a lifetime of riding, and racing, across road, cyclocross, and triathlon. He’s been fortunate enough to cross the finish line at some very cool events, including L’Etape du Tour, the Tour of Flanders sportive, L’Eroica, the Leadville 100 MTB Race, and the BC Bike Race.

After pre-teen ambitions of becoming an astronaut and a fireman, Shane Stokes took a meandering route through studying languages, arts and physiology before beginning to dabble in journalism. His Master’s thesis in exercise physiology was delayed by a trip to cover the 1998 Tour de France for an Irish newspaper and the experiences of that race – affected by the Festina Affair – shaped his future writing.

The Irish Times cycling correspondent since 2000, Shane has worked for and contributed to many of the top websites and magazines in the sport. After a long, mainly sleepless stint as editor of the VeloNation website he joined CyclingTips as news editor in April 2014.

Since then Shane has continued to add to a cluster of accreditations from races such as the three Grand Tours, the world championships, the spring and autumn Classics and events such as the Tour of Turkey, Tour de Langkawi and An Post Rás. Away from cycling, he’s most often working on his photography, walking in nature, reading books and patting dogs.

Matt grew up on the south coast of NSW and was given his first bike, a forest green dragster, at age 7.

He quickly mastered the basics and turned to learning stunts, and later, BMX. He discovered road cycling ten years later and moved to Sydney to pursue an education.

By the end of the ’90s Matt had a PhD and he was also a qualified bicycle mechanic. He now lives in Perth WA and has a career in medical research, a small service-only business as a bike mechanic, along with a family, a road bike, and a few BMX bikes in the shed.

James joined CyclingTips as U.S. tech editor in February 2016 after nearly 11 years at BikeRadar and Cyclingnews. His path here hasn’t otherwise been entirely straightforward, however, with 14 years spent as a shop mechanic, three years at a laser spectroscopy company, degrees in the closely related fields of microbiology and materials science engineering, and founding mountain bike suspension web site angryasian.com.

James currently hangs his hat in Boulder, Colorado and keeps his alter ego (@angryasian) at bay with a wide variety of two-wheeled therapy, incessant (and occasionally successful) tinkering, and candy – lots and lots of candy.

Dave claims that the aroma of GT85 and oxy-acetylene evoke happy childhood memories. This would be questionable if he hadn’t spent most of his school holidays in the back of his dad’s bike shop.

Leaving the north west of the UK at age 18 for a summer of racing in France quickly lead Dave to defer from university where he’d planned to study art and design. That decision resulted in 12 years of racing full-time for teams in Europe and America. The phrase “Education is important, but riding bikes is more importanter” could quite easily be applied.

Injury and what Dave likes to think of as “a wise choice” put the brakes on his racing career. But a love of the sport and a year spent travelling the globe saw Dave jumping barriers at major races to chat with pro riders in a lighthearted fashion. Now living in France Dave can be found roaming Europe for CyclingTips, covering everything from rider interviews to factory tours.

Malcolm joined CyclingTips in 2015. After a brief career teaching in Far North Queensland, he moved to Melbourne to study documentary filmmaking. In the throes of an art school student’s unique brand of poverty, Malcolm pursued freelance videography for some extra income and eventually found himself shooting and editing bike reviews and mini docos for BikeExchange.

When BikeExchange and CyclingTips joined forces, Malcolm was disgusted to learn he now had to shoot Roadtripping pieces. His cruel bosses send him out to horribly beautiful locations for weeks at a time. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.

Our newest recruit, Dave is a former editor of BikeRadar.com. Before that, he freelanced for leading mountain bike titles, worked in numerous Sydney bike stores and spent a few years in cycling wholesale. As a lover of all things cycling, Dave has a background of racing cross country mountain bikes and has also dabbled in cyclocross and road races along the way.

It’s the technical aspect of the sport that excites Dave the most, something that he’ll continue to share with in-depth features when he’s not hiding behind the scenes. A lover of tools and light weight parts, he’s a true cycling nerd.

Ella CyclingTips editorial

Anne-Marije Rook – Ella CyclingTips Editor

Anne-Marije Rook joined CyclingTips to help launch Ella in January 2015. A few months later she quit her job as Communications Director for a cycling nonprofit to join Ella full time, bringing 10 years of journalism experience and a fiery passion for cycling with her.

Originally from The Netherlands, Anne-Marije has been a bike commuter since she was just six years old. Once introduced to cycling as a sport later in life, Anne-Marije got the racing bug badly. A passion was sparked and since then, cycling has taken over her life. It’s her job, her hobby, her lifestyle –and she wouldn’t want it any other way.

Simone joined Ella CyclingTips when it first launched in 2015. She has spent years working as a journalist, most recently as a freelance writer and before that as a reporter at two of the world’s largest news services, Reuters and Bloomberg.

Business writing was her area of choice after she completed a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism at RMIT. As exciting as asking questions of some of the world’s top business figures and having articles published in newspapers around the globe was, nothing could quite compete with the lure of writing about the sport that dominated her spare time.

Simone’s an all-rounder on the bike, enjoying her road and mountain bike along with the kid-friendly race discipline of cyclocross, which also equals perfect family time.

Jeanine came to Ella CyclingTips from Feminin Magazine, a women’s cycling magazine, where she served as editor in chief.

Jeanine has been freelancing as a journalist and editor for a variety of different publications as well as doing some PR and marketing work. She has a background in cycling journalism and also co-wrote a book about about the 2011 Giro Donne.

An elite cyclist herself, she knows what it takes to race against pro riders: lots of training hours, much dedication and no fear of pain.

Jeanine joined Ella CyclingTips as a women’s race reporter in January 2016.

Jonathan joined the CyclingTips team in September 2014 having previously worked for a marketing agency. As Marketing and Merchandise Manager, Jonathan heads up the CyclingTips Emporium, helping to bring our readers new and interesting products from brands we love.

Jonathan took up cycling after signing up for an Ironman off the back of no previous riding experience. After seven months spent training for it the passion for cycling stuck but the running did not.

Jonathan is the constant butt of all triathlete jokes in the office but takes them all in his stride. He does not wear long compression socks.

Leigh joined CyclingTips in April 2016 after spending five years working as a Retail Store Manager & Bike Fitter. Previously he worked in the pharmaceutical industry as a Key Account Manager with GlaxoSmithKline.

An avid road cyclist that occasionally partakes in racing, Leigh also enjoys getting out on the CX bike to explore.

Joining Cyclingtips in February 2016, “Gouge” has been in the cycling industry for over 11 years, starting with VeloNews. As an 11x Leadville 100 MTB finisher living in Durango, Colorado, dirt is where he feels the most comfortable.

Want to contribute?

Here at CyclingTips we’re always looking for new contributors. If you’ve got a story idea or something else that you think would make a good article, please don’t hesitate to get in touch via email.

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